So we went to..............

......Morecambe last Sunday.

We parked at the end of the West Promenade near the Battery ( a bargain at 80p for 4 hours or £1.00 for over 4 hours!)
Then we headed to Central Promenade towards a very iconic white building.

Yes I could hardly contain my excitement....we were heading for The Midland Hotel.

See the seahorses?

You can read all about it here and see some old postcards with the hotel on.

The hotel was built in 1932 and opened in 1933 in the Art Deco style.

Above a gentleman having tea in the entrance with the open spiral staircase with it's cantilevered steps.

The sculptor and engraver Eric Gill, carved the two seahorses outside and this bas-relief in the hotel entrance. The circular rugs are copies of the originals by Marion Dorn.

he was also responsible for this circular medallion in the ceiling above the staircase.

And just look at this detail on the floor by designer Marion Dorn, leading to the restaurant.

The seahorse motif was also used originally on the hotel crockery. We headed through to the Rotunda bar

The Bar

in the cafe we spotted a table by the window.

had a look at the menu and

ordered our tea then...

our fish and chunky chips arrived.
And yes they were delicious!

The Rotunda

The interior of the Rotunda Cafe wall was originally painted by Eric Ravilious but it began to peel within two years and was painted over.

The Ladies (yes I took a photo because they were so stylish!)

Then we decided to walk off the lunch.

we walked around the side of the hotel



The Rotunda

Running from the hotel into the sea is the Stone Jetty.

All along the jetty and the 5 miles of promenade there is the most fantastic public art. Read about the Tern Project here and the art work here.

The birds are everywhere above you can see them on the roundabout opposite the old station across the road from the Midland.

Did you know Morecambe only became Morecambe in 1889 when the fishing village of Poulten-le-Sands adopted it when the port and railway grew up around it.

The stone jetty has some great games to play and beautiful sculpture to look at.
here is just a few of them-

Mythical Bird

Magpie Hopscotch

Tongue Twisters

We reluctantly leave the jetty to walk along the East Promenade.

and we take in the wonderful British Seaside.

We walked along with an icecream and I bought some rock for my mum.

and hubby had a play in the arcade.

The Eric Morecambe Statue

We met a familiar face along the way.

Kite Flying

We had such a wonderful day!

This young seagull I think thought the bronze seagull was his mummy and was making a heck of a racket!

deatail of the pavement

We came across this building

The Winter Gardens

The Winter Gardens.
Opened in 1897 but closed to the public in 1977 they are currently trying to get money to restore it to it's former glory.

So now the sun was setting and it was time to leave Morecambe.

The town is trying to reinvent itself and lots of good things are happening but there are still some sad parts that remind us that the tourists are not the only people that they need to think about. It is a town where people live too.

This has been a very long post but I hope you found it interesting and your still awake?